Strays
by PEANUT v1.2
Summary: When Serah brings a stray dog home with her one day, Lightning is eager to get rid of the pesky pooch. However, as usual, things never go as she planned. And in this case, it's for the better. 3-Shot
1. Chapter 1

Strays

As the eldest Farron sat on the couch of her home, Lightning couldn't help but reflect on life. At the age of seventeen, she wasn't like the rest of the girls in Bodhum. While they were selfish and shallow, Lightning realized the important things in life. Family and dedication. It didn't matter how much family was left—whatever you had, you had to protect. That was what Lightning strove for since their mother died three years ago. So what if she was labeled as a freak by the other girls at school? So what if she shoved her emotions deep within her so that they never saw the light of day? Some things were more important. Family and dedication.

But something was amiss.

Serah hadn't been herself the past week or so. Instead of hanging out with friends after school, she came home as soon as classes were over. She'd pop into the apartment, say "Hey Lightning" and then disappear into her bedroom. Was her sister having fights with her friends? No, that was unlikely. Serah had told Lightning that everything was terrific with her friends. Serah wouldn't have lied to her face, would she have? Of course not.

Lightning heard the door open in another room, and it only took five seconds for the footsteps to approach. "Hey Lightning," Serah said from the doorway, continuing to walk past to her bedroom.

The door was shut within ten seconds, and that was that.

For once, Lightning wasn't sure what to do. She and Serah didn't keep secrets from each other…No, that was a lie. Lightning kept her secrets, but Serah didn't keep anything hidden from Lightning. _She's fourteen now, _she thought. _Maybe this is just what fourteen year olds do. They start keeping to themselves or something like that. _Lightning couldn't remember how she was when she was that age, but she wasn't the standard girl even back then. If only she had her mom to talk to, she'd know what to do.

Serah's door opened again and the girl came out. Before Lightning even had a chance to speak, Serah was running her mouth. "Boy am I hungry!" she laughed. "Do we have anything for dinner?"

"It was your turn to cook," Lightning reminded her. Serah took four nights of the week and Lightning had three. It had been this way for a year now; how could Serah have forgotten?

For a moment, Serah's expression showed panic. "Oh…well," the girl laughed nervously. "Um…I'll see what we have and manage something." Muttering to herself, the teen turned into the kitchen and rummaged through the fridge.

Lightning couldn't sit by any longer. She had to confront Serah about this now, to ease her concerns that something was wrong. "Serah…" she stared as she stood in the doorway. Serah pretended to be absorbed in looking in the fridge for something specific. "We need to talk."

"Can't it wait till dinner, sis?" Serah asked while still searching a bit more frantically.

"…No," she declared.

The sound of food being moved around was all that filled the kitchen for a few seconds.

"Serah, what are you hiding from me?" Lightning finally asked.

"W-what am I hiding?" Serah laughed nervously. "Nothing! I know I can never hide anything from you, Lightning. Not that I'd ever want to…"

Her eyebrows furrowed as Serah shut the fridge. "I'm pretty sure that's the first lie you've told me," she said. "You're a pretty terrible liar." Good thing, too. That meant Lightning was raising her right.

Before Serah could protest again, Lightning heard something from the other side of the house. It almost sounded like something fell. Serah's room? Maybe Serah wasn't just keeping a secret; she was literally hiding something from her. She started over, all while hearing Serah protesting behind her. "Lightning! Wait! You…uh…I mean…My room is messy!"

"You're a self-proclaimed neat-freak." Lightning clearly wasn't buying Serah's lies, not anymore. Whatever was happening here, it must have been bad if Serah was taking her lies so far. "But I'll admit that your room smelled a little odd when I walked past it last. Almost like…" Lightning opened up Serah's bedroom door, and spoke not only what would have finished the sentence, but what she saw. "…dog."

A dog with golden colored fur sat about five feet into the room, right in the path of the door. And right in his mouth was one of Serah's shoes. He was just a pup! His big brown eyes didn't seem to match up with his small body.

"…Dare I ask?" Lightning asked, shifting her gaze to the sister that now stood beside her.

Serah sighed and glanced at the dog. "I found her on my way home from school one day and snuck him in while you were filling out your application for the Guardian Corps."

"That was almost two weeks ago." She was disturbed with that realization. How could she not have realized this sooner? Granted, she did stay out of Serah's room in order to give her sister some privacy most of the time. Serah had made sure Lightning didn't have a reason to get in there, either. She had definitely been played.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't let the dog stay out there. She's so little…"

Lightning glanced away. Yeah, it was a small, cute dog. But the shoe in her mouth reminded Lightning that dogs were a handful, especially puppies. "We know nothing about dogs."

"No, but how hard can it be? Give her some love, food, potty train her…She'll turn out okay."

"She's a stray, Serah. She could have…fleas, or something."

"I already checked. Terra's mom is a vet, so I took the dog to her in hopes that she could take in the dog too. But…the pound is full right now, and the puppy would have been…killed."

Lightning could tell that Serah was disturbed by this, but she wasn't sure why she appeared so shaken by everything. Still, Lightning didn't dare ask why. If she would have allowed herself to dwell on the issue, she would have figured it out herself.

"…Look for a home for her with your classmates. We're not keeping a stray."

"Lightning!" Serah protested.

"She can stay until then. But she's your responsibility."

Serah smiled in relief. "Of course!" she cried happily. Serah must not have had too many hard feelings about not keeping the dog; she just wanted the creature to be all right. If this was a cat, it would have been another story. The girl absolutely adored cats.

Lightning turned to leave, seeing the dog eying the laces on her boots. "Make sure she doesn't destroy the house. And no feeding her our food. Do you have enough to buy her dog food?"

"For now," Serah nodded.

"Good."

The eldest sister walked away from the situation, believing that they had faced the worst of it. But she was wrong.

*…*…*…*…*…*

After a week, Serah dubbed the dog "Lacey" because of her love for shoe laces. Lightning dubbed the dog "annoying." The stupid thing was keeping her awake at night now with her barking. Serah said that before, she kept the dog quiet by giving her meat at random points throughout the night, but she stopped with that habit when Lightning told her no more human food. Now there was no way to keep the dog content.

The stray ran around the house freely. She jumped up on the couch and clawed at the kitchen cabinets. Somehow, she and Serah had managed to clip the dog's nails so that she wasn't so harmful, but Lightning was still peeved at the pooch.

"Oh, shush," Serah would say as she cuddled with the dog that acted so innocent in Serah's presence. "She's just a bundle of energy! She doesn't know what to do with herself here."

"She'd have plenty of room to exert that energy on the streets," Lightning would respond. But nothing ever came of those threats; the dog stayed anyway. Especially when Bodhum had their biggest thunder storm in five years.

Lacey curled up in the corner of the couch and shivered the whole evening out of fright. No matter how Serah tried to comfort the poor dog, Lacey whined every once in a while when thunder sounded. It was a wonder that they still had power; half of Bodhum was out. Lightning guessed that their father had hooked them up to a back-up generator a while ago to keep the house lit during times like this.

"Lightning, what do we do?" Serah asked as she placed the shaking dog in her lap.

"Me? How should I know? I don't know any more about dogs than you do, remember?"

"I wonder how she was strayed," Serah said mostly to herself. "I wonder what happened to her mom and dad."

"It's a cruel world, Serah. They probably left her. Maybe she was the runt."

When Serah looked over at Lightning, her eyes were angry. And filled with tears. "That wasn't a kind thing to say," she said in a shaky voice.

Lightning looked away in silence. No, it wasn't a kind thing to say. But it was how Lightning viewed the world. It was a cruel and dark place, where parents left their children. It happened all the time, so there was no need to ignore it like it was nothing.

Suddenly, Lacey let out an ear-piercing howl. "Lacey!" Serah cried, petting the dog and trying to calm her. However, Lightning realized something—there wasn't any thunder to set the dog off. And there was a noise after the dog's howl that caught her attention. Another howl in response.

_Oh no. Absolutely not._

Lightning picked herself up off the couch and headed towards the front door. Her mind was playing tricks on her now. She was sleep deprived because of the dumb dog and imagining that there was another dog right outside the front door that was howling in the storm.

She was disappointed when she opened the door. Indeed, there was another dog sitting there. Another golden retriever, soaked to the bone because of the rain. The dog growled viciously at Lightning before stepping past her and into the house.

The girl blinked, but allowed the dog in. "Sure, come right in," she muttered as she shut the door. Her home was turning into a shelter for strays now, apparently. What could she do though? If she let the dog stay out in the rain, Serah would have never forgiven her. _It's going to be so hard to get rid of the stench of wet dog…_

From the living room came the higher pitched yapping of Lacey, along with Serah's surprised yet excited squealing. "Lightning!"

A sigh left her lips as she returned to the room. There was the stray, standing in front of the couch with her nose to the pup. It almost looked like Lacey was crying in joy to seeing the other dog.

"Lightning," Serah said again, lifting her gaze to her sister. "Do you think this is Lacey's mom?"

She shook her head. "She's still too young," she stated calmly. "See? She's not full grown. Maybe a sibling from another litter." Wait, that's what cats came from, not dogs. Whoops. That just went to show that Lightning really knew nothing about dogs. Except that they weren't welcome in her house unless she said so.

"We'll need to lock her in the bathroom," she declared. "Or she'll get the whole house wet."

"Lightning, no!" Serah scolded. "Can't you see that the two dogs want to stay together?" She put a hand on Lacey's head, and her other went to the top of the wet dog's. The dog didn't look pleased, but she let the hand linger. "In a storm this bad, family needs to stick together."

"Then they can stick together in the bathroom." Lightning stepped forward, reaching for the wet dog. "C'mon, mutt."

A vicious growl was her response.

"My house, my rules. Get your furry butt into the bathroom."

The dog's teeth showed more now. She was ready to attack. Lightning nearly dared her to, but she wisely took a step aside and let go of her pride. "Serah, you try."

"If I get her to go there, though, we'll only dry her off. She's allowed in the rest of the house."

"Fine," she muttered. She didn't care anymore. All that she wanted was for the dog to not be dripping all over the place, and not growling at her. Blood on the carpet was worse than water—she had to remind herself that as she fought the urge to treat the dog like she would any human. If this was a human, she would have grabbed them by the back of the neck and thrown them out into the rain. Nobody dared to talk back to Lightning.

But this was a dog, and this dog had sharp teeth.

"Hey girl," Serah cooed as she knelt down on the ground. "Come with me, okay? I'm gonna take care of you."

While the dog showed less resistance to Serah, she still didn't look happy in the slightest. Her ears were down, her eyes narrowed (somehow that was possible for the dog), and her fur was standing up. Or was this behavior only because of the cold?

No, it was something else. Serah realized that and picked up Lacey gently, holding her in her arms. "C'mon," she said again, gentle with the older dog as she and Lacey started towards the bathroom. As she predicted, the older dog followed.

_Oh great, _Lightning thought. _I'm never going to live this one down._

As Serah and the two dogs left her line of vision, Lightning had the horrible feeling that these two dogs were going to be permanent residents in her house.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

A week passed, and as Lightning predicted, she hadn't been able to get rid of either of the strays that invaded her house. Lacey had wormed her way into Serah's heart by now, with the big brown eyes and flowing golden fur.

The other dog, not so much.

Serah couldn't come up with a name for the dog that was often moody and ill-tempered. She had affectionately called her "Grumpy" for a day or two, but the dog didn't seem pleased. Names like "Flower" and "Grace" didn't fit either.

Lightning called the dog "Stray". That was what she was. An annoying stray who showed up at her house last week during a big thunder storm and refused to leave since then. The dumb dog wouldn't do anything that Lightning told her to do. She would just growl until Serah or Lacey came into the room and convinced the dog to back off.

She couldn't believe that she was facing off against a dumb dog.

"I told you, Lightning," Serah said around a mouthful of food at dinnertime one night. "I've asked all around school. Nobody is willing to take them in."

"Well neither am I."

"It's us or they're dead." They had this argument before. If the dogs didn't remain with Serah and Lightning, then they would be killed, since the pound was overflowing with stray animals.

Lightning lost the argument again. Why did she even bother at this point? _Oh yeah, it's because I'm as stubborn as that stray. _

Stubbornness wasn't all that the two had in common. The stray also walked around like she owned the place. Chin held high, eyes always looking straight ahead—always staring up into Lightning's blue eyes whenever they were facing off against each other. Neither of them would break eye-contact when they tried to show their dominance. The standoffs were always broken by Serah dragging Lightning away or Lacey tugging at the stray's leg for the same reason.

An awkward truce lingered in the air. If that stray ignored Lightning, then she would ignore the stray. They could manage to live in the same house for that reason alone.

Or so she thought.

It was a Thursday when another storm hit. Only this wasn't just a storm—It was a hurricane.

And Serah was nowhere to be found.

If there ever was a time for Serah to have her cell phone on her, it would have been now. But her sister didn't use the mobile device often because of their very limited plan. It was for emergencies only, and this was definitely an emergency.

Lighting paced the living room, glancing out the window every two seconds to see the trees blowing in the wind that was growing harsher and harsher. "Serah," she scolded over and over again underneath her breath. She should have known better than to go out today. Even if she hadn't seen the weather report , she wasn't blind—she could look up at the sky and see the darkness that was nearly as dark as the middle of the night. It was only five o' clock.

While Lightning paced, the stray was also on edge. She sat by the window and stared outside, whimpering every once in a while. It took Lightning a few minutes to even realize that the dog was on edge. Scared of the storm? No, if that were the case, the dog would have been hiding from the window.

"What's wrong?" Lightning finally asked the dog. _Stupid. Dog's can't talk. And why are you talking to it like it's human? You're going crazy here. _

Yet if Lightning was crazy, then crazy was an okay place to be. Somehow, when the dog turned around, she could decipher the look of panic that shone in her own eyes. Not only was Serah missing, but so was Lacey.

"Serah took Lacey along?" Lightning thought aloud. Still a stupid move. With a storm like this, what good was a puppy going to do her?

She had to focus. Where would Serah go? Not to a friend's house; she would have called to let Lightning know that she was safe. Responsibility was a trait that Lightning attempted to infuse in Serah regularly. The only place that Serah could be was a place without a phone…

_What's the date? _Lightning thought suddenly. A crucial detail to this mystery. _June 2__nd__. _There was her answer.

Serah was visiting their mother's gravestone. Today was the two-year anniversary. Not even the weather would stop Serah from the tradition she started.

"Serah, you idiot," she scolded again. This wasn't worth the risk. What came next was surprisingly natural for Lightning. "C'mon, stray," she said to the dog as she started for the front door. "We're going to get Serah and Lacey back."

"Stray" hurried after Lightning, though the dog was at least smart enough not to run in front of her and trip her up. Apparently the dog had intelligence to back up its annoyingness. But those thoughts vanished when Lightning reached for a leash and the dog growled.

"Oh come on," she said strictly. "We're only going to find them by sticking together. You really wanna go it alone out there?" When the dog sat down, Lightning put the collar on her. "Didn't think so."

The moment the two of them ventured outside, a gust of wind blew the door wide open behind them and then slammed it shut. Hopefully the hinges weren't broken. By the end of the day, though, that could have been the least of her worries. _Serah. I hope you're still there. Or two minutes away from here. _

Lightning ran as fast as she could, though the wind was pressing against her and trying to force her back towards the house. No winds could keep her from her sister. Absolutely nothing would prevent her from protecting the only family that she had left.

Stray must have felt the same, because she was pressing on against the wind as well. Her eyes were narrowed and each step was a labor, but the two of them managed to go at a light jog. If Serah was coming back to the house, at least she had the wind in her favor. Unless, of course, the wind picked her up and tossed her to Nautilus or some other place on Cocoon. What, were the Fal'Cie having a temper tantrum? And why today of all days?

It took Lightning fifteen minutes to reach the cemetery, even at the pace she maintained. It had started to drizzle, but the rain had extra pressure because of the harsh wind. She could hardly feel her face as she entered the graveyard. "Serah!" she hollered into the wind.

The wind only continued howling.

"_Serah_!" Lightning screamed.

This time, she got a response. A small amount of yapping. Lacey was here. Lightning squinted and saw a figure running towards them—no, two. One human, and one dog. _Oh thank goodness, _she thought. Both of them were alright.

"Lightning!" Serah cried, running to her sister and stopping right in front of her. Lacey stopped beside her, staring mostly at Stray.

"What were you thinking!" Lightning hollered. "This is a serious storm. You could have gotten yourself killed!" That was still a possible outcome, actually. "We have to go home, now!"

"I'm so sorry!" she cried again. "I **had** to see Mom!"

"Well you may have been seeing her in a different way than expected! But we'll discuss that later! Let's go."

Lightning grabbed Serah's wrist with her free hand and pulled her along, holding Stray's leash in her other hand. She had nearly forgotten about the two dogs, but keeping the grip on the leash reminded her that it wasn't just Serah that she had to protect. Sure, she wasn't a dog person. But she wasn't going to abandon the dogs in the storm, or even not keep them safe. Serah viewed them as part of the family. That was enough reason for Lightning to protect them.

She didn't want to lead them along the back of the beach, but there was no choice. A tree blocked the path that she had originally taken. It wasn't huge, so the girls could have climbed over it. Not the dogs though. _No man or dog left behind. _As corny as it sounded, that was Lightning's philosophy for the moment.

They walked along the edge of the beach, away from the water. It was way above what was considered high tide. And the waves looked deadly, even at this distance. If anyone dared to go swimming, they would most certainly be pulled out to sea and never be seen again.

"Lacey!" Serah cried suddenly.

Right before their eyes, the dog bolted. Not towards the ocean, thank goodness. But straight ahead and away from them. "Hey!" Lightning cried. They had to stay together! Before she even recognized what she was doing, she had passed off Stray's leash onto Serah. Her feet carried her naturally as the wind pushed behind her, giving her that extra speed that she'd need to catch up to the fast pup. "Stop!"

Lacey did stop—right by a swaying palm tree. No, swaying wasn't the right word. The tree was actually twisting and bending in the wind in a way that couldn't be natural.

Then it happened. A sharp snap, right while Lightning and Lacey were next to it. The girl grunted, eyes wide as she looked and saw the tree break and fall…onto her.

"Lightning!" Serah screamed.

But it was too late. The palm tree landed on Lightning's back and shoved her down into the sand. For a moment, her vision turned dark because of the pain. Then everything disappeared along with her consciousness.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"You're alright, kid," Amador was saying to Lightning. He didn't look over at her when he spoke—and for good reason, considering that he was driving a car. After spending two days in the hospital. Lightning was more than just glad that she was finally allowed to go home, and glad that Lieutenant Amador was able to take her there. A lot had happened in the past two days, that was for sure. All of it was still clear in Lightning's mind.

Except for what happened right after the tree hit her. The pain of being crushed made her lose consciousness almost immediately. Serah called her name once or twice from what she heard, but according to Serah, she screamed her name several times before calling for help. She didn't dare leave Lightning alone underneath that tree, so she screamed and screamed hoping that somebody would hear her.

This was where Amador filled in some details of the story, since he was the one that came to Lightning's rescue. He said he heard a dog howling. Stray had begun howling a minute or two after Lightning was down, but it wasn't because Lacey was under that tree as well. Lightning had kicked the dog out of the way as soon as she realized what was happening. No—Stray was howling so _Lightning _could get some help. Amador heard the call and came to the rescue.

Two days in the hospital for some broken ribs was what she had to suffer through. And the pain that she was dealing with now, even on a road that was mostly smooth. All the debris from that horrible storm were cleared up while Lightning was in the hospital. If her father was still alive, he would have probably assisted right alongside Amador. The Guardian Corp had a hand in making sure that everyone was safe and they helped out where they could as well. The whole reason that Amador was in the GC was because Lightning's father recruited him when nobody else would. He said he saw potential in the kid that nobody else did. Even if there was a ten year difference between Amador and her father, they became quick friends. And now that he was gone, Amador looked after Lightning when he could. Like right now.

"You were lucky though," Amador continued. "If you wouldn't have tried jumping forward, it would have smacked you in the head."

"I know."_And I don't want to think about that. _

Lieutenant Amador pulled up to the house, where Lightning would be spending the next few hours alone. Serah was at school since it was the middle of the day. If she had known that Lightning was coming home, she probably would have skipped the day, even if academics were extremely important to her.

"Thanks for the ride," Lightning said, opening the door. She winced at the pain the movement caused in her mid torso, but she got out of the car all the same.

"You're welcome," he said. "I'll come to check up on you every once in a while. Remember to take it easy, future soldier."

She smirked at the words. It was no secret that she planned on joining the GC as soon as she was of age. Amador was determined to be her officer, too. So that he could pay back the debt that he owed to her father for what he did years ago. Amador was a good man.

They said their farewells and Lightning let herself into her home as the Lieutenant drove away. He'd be back soon, whether she wanted him to or not. For now, though, she would enjoy some peace and quiet. That was what she thought as she as she opened the door.

The yapping of a puppy changed her perspective though. Lacey rushed the door, barking happily to see Lightning. _Yeah, yeah, glad to see you too, _she thought a bit annoyingly. _Now let me through so I can go to bed and sleep. _

Stray stood in a nearby doorway, growling lowly. Not at Lightning, for once, but at Lacey. The pup stopped barking and backed off Lightning immediately at the scolding. She was a bit surprised, but not really. Stray was Lacey's older, protective sister. After running off in the storm, she was certain that Lacey received a lot of scolding.

Lightning looked at the dog who looked back at her, but this time, she couldn't decipher the dog's thoughts. She nodded faintly to her, but then headed towards her bedroom to get some rest. She began to shut the door to keep Lacey out, yet a dog slipped through before she could stop it. "Hey-"

It was Stray.

Once Lightning realized this, she actually alright with it. "Okay," she said. "But I'm not going to be getting up to let you out anytime soon." The dog, in her silence, seemed to accept that. That was good enough for her. If that dog started barking while she was resting though, she'd be really ticked off.

The moment she laid down in bed, she realized that she had another reason to be annoyed. She grunted roughly in pain when the bed trembled underneath the weight of the dog that jumped onto the free side of the bed. "Not cool."

Yet the dog didn't respond to Lightning's irritation. She actually whined and cuddled up to Lightning. What happened to the dog who growled at her all the time? The dog who held her head high all the time and never showed kindness to anyone but Lacey?

"You're alright, Stray," she heard herself saying as she put her hand on the back of the dog that laid in front of her. "You're alright."

*…*…*…*…*…*

The next few days, Lightning stayed in bed. So did Stray. The dog that was once so cold towards Lightning now stayed by her side twenty-four/seven. She figured that it was because Lightning saved Lacey from the tree collapsing on her. Or Stray saw the goodness in Lightning that she hadn't seen before.

It worked in reverse too. Lightning noticed now that the dog was very loyal. Dedicated enough to stay in bed with Lightning all day when Serah was gone at school or staying there at night. Stray was proving to be compassionate, loyal, and intelligent.

Much like Lightning, if she would have ever allowed herself to reveal that side of her personality. Yet she was the same. Compassionate to those that suffered, loyal to those she loved, and very intelligent in everything that she did.

"You're a strange one, Stray," she commented quietly, stroking the dog's fur as she sat propped up in bed against some pillows. _But so am I. _

Even more strange was how Lightning just began to speak her mind to the pooch. "You're called 'man's best friend', huh?" she asked rhetorically. "I'll admit you've been a good friend to me the past few days. Never would have guessed that something abandoned on the streets could turn into a good thing like you."

_You're talking to yourself now. You were abandoned when your parents died. You didn't think that you could ever be good again after the extreme grief that caused you to change your name. You're just like Stray, protecting her younger sister. _

It all made sense now. That was why Serah was so attached to these dogs! She saw the two of them in them. Lacey was a bit like her—mischievous, focused once she made up her mind, and fun-loving. And Lightning was like Stray in the ways that she thought of. Serah wanted to see the ending of the dogs' stories, because if they turned out okay, then so would Lightning and Serah.

"You know what matters," Lightning continued as she stroked the dog. Whether the words were spoken towards herself or to the dog, the message was the same. "You protect it with everything that you have within you. You know that as long as you do that…things will be all right in the end. Maybe."

_Loyalty and dedication. Isn't that what you emphasize to yourself all the time? _

"Being a stray doesn't define you any more than being an orphan defines me," Lightning realized. It suddenly clicked in her mind. What happened to her didn't define her. What she did with it did. Suddenly, a peace she hadn't known before flooded her veins. The past didn't have to define her. She wasn't the orphan girl. She was Lightning, and Lightning was a strong individual who was loyal, strong, and intelligent.

"You need a new name," she said suddenly to the dog. "Stray" wasn't going to do it anymore. She needed to give the dog a new name, because when she did, Lightning would feel freer as well. For now, they were one.

She wasn't good at this type of thing though. Serah was the one who inherited the creative genes in the family. Yet she couldn't ask her sister for help, because she'd try to choose something too sentimental. Lightning wasn't that type of person, and neither was the stray. After a few seconds, though, an idea came into her mind. "How about…Blitz?"

The dog's tail began to wag. The name fit. She sounded like an attack dog, and yet there was a soft interior beneath that pride that shone in her eyes.

"All right, then," Lightning smiled faintly.

_Blitz. Lightning and Blitz. Two beings abandoned and left to face the world on their own. We'll show the world that we're more than the past. _

_They'll see we're more than strays and orphans. _


End file.
